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The American goshawk (Astur atricapillus) is one of the three “true” hawks native to North America. Originally considered part of the Accipiter genus, the American goshawk was assigned its own species in 2023 based on differences in morphology, vocalizations, and genetics. (The Eurasian goshawk is still designated as Accipiter gentilis.) They are magnificent hunters, stealthy and extremely agile in the forest. They are also fierce defenders of their nests, as anyone who has happened upon one in the woods can attest.
This carving started with a pair of glass eyes. More than 25 years ago, I purchased several pairs of glass goshawk eyes from a company out of Pennsylvania called Tohickon. Sculptors and taxidermists may remember that company as a source of great glass eyes. The goshawk is probably my favorite raptor, and I decided to create a bust of one after looking at an unused pair that had been sitting in my spare-eyes box. I decided that this bird would peer out from among maple leaves emerging from the base—sort of “sneaking a peek” through the foliage and thus supporting its nickname, “Ghost of the Forest.”
Back in the 1980s, I raised a male American goshawk from an eyas to an older adult, so I had plenty of references and my memory to help design the sculpture.
I need to give a shout-out to Laurie J. McNeil for her Loon and Chicks Workbench Project book. In it, she describes the process of making a clay model and transferring the design to a paper pattern that I used as a guide for this sculpture. Her book is definitely one to own if you decide to create your own bird patterns.
Following Laurie’s guidance, I first created the clay model of this piece and then used it to create a paper pattern. Once I was happy with the pattern, I cut it out of a block of tupelo using a band saw.
I also used a reference book that I purchased from Pam Krausman called Images of Nature—Bird Measurements. This reference book has all sorts of measurements for a large number of songbirds, waterfowl, upland game, and raptors. I used the reference page for the goshawk to assist in checking my measurements for the head, beak, etc.
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CREATING THE CLAY MODEL
1. Using an old Bob Miller resin-cast study beak as a starting point, I began by drilling out the eye holes to accept another old pair of glass goshawk eyes. This particular pair has an incorrect pupil size. I didn’t care about that for the clay model; what I was going for was correct placement in the skull and the correct angle of the eye set so that when I carved the head, I could use direct measurements to verify the locations in the wood. I set the eyes in the resin-cast skull with some clay and began planning the rest of the bust.
2. I cut out a piece of blue builder’s foam as part of the armature for the bust to save some clay and weight. I started building the head, neck, and cape from clay that I molded around the foam block.
3. I then began filling around the beak and building out the head, neck, and rest of the bird. Once I decided how much breast, cape, and wings I wanted to include in the finished piece, I cut away the excess foam and filled out the rest of the clay model for the breast and back. I referred to the book on bird measurements to verify my clay model as I shaped it.
4. I wanted to include a small portion of the wings, so I molded the clay to show the wrist and part of the wing coverts on the bird.
CREATING THE PAPER PATTERN
5. When I was happy with the clay representation, I started the process of transferring what was 3-D in clay to 2-D on graph paper. Once the clay model was done, I inserted a piece of brass tubing under the bird’s chin to keep the model level on the graph paper so that I could accurately measure around the bird.
6. I began by drawing a centerline on a sheet of graph paper and placing the clay model on the centerline. I made sure that the clay model was level and that I could trace around the model with the square and pencil without any issue.
7. I then took the two taped right triangles and moved them along the model over the graph paper, while placing a pencil dot in the V of the triangle tool. I continued this around the whole model until I had enough dots to connect them all. I penciled in the lines between the dots I drew; this created the top view of the pattern.
8. To create the side view, I used the combination square. I moved the square along the sides of the model, capturing measurements of the height in numerous places. I then transferred those dots to the graph paper. Once I was satisfied that I had enough dots, I connected them as I did for the top view. This established the outside lines for the side-view pattern.
9. Here’s where a bit of creativity was needed. I had to establish details on the pattern that would help determine where to allow for differences when cutting the wood. For example, I added the wing wrist measurements to the drawing to establish where extra wood was needed for those areas on the block. I took measurements from the resin-cast study using the calipers and used them to add in details such as eye-hole placement, beak length, nare (nostril) openings, etc. I also needed measurements such as the head width, back of head to tip of beak, height of the upper and lower beak, beak gap length, etc. My goshawk was going to have his head turned to his right, so for this pattern, I created four views: a top view; a flattened side-profile view; a side view showing the foreshortened, turned head; and a mirror of that same view. I then left some extra width on the drawing to allow for a bit more wood to be left in the beak area. Once I was satisfied with the drawings, I measured again to make sure that when the patterns were laid on the wood block, they all lined up.
CREATING THE WOOD CUTOUT
10. My old band saw is not large enough to handle the piece of wood I needed for this sculpture. I checked with Jeff Moore at Fowl Play Studios in Maryland to see if he could help me. I purchased a block of tupelo from him and sent him the four patterns that I had created. Jeff was kind enough to bandsaw the block down to the shapes I had drawn on the patterns. A few days later, I had the rough-out back in my hands along with my paper patterns. It was time to start removing wood from the cutout.
CARVING THE GOSHAWK
11. On the cutout, I drew a centerline through the beak to the top of the head through the cape. I did the same from the underside of the beak through the breast.
12. I began shaping the contours of the bird by using my Foredom shaft grinder, with the intention of getting the whole block rounded and close to the correct size.
13. At this stage, I left enough wood on the beak area to prevent anything from breaking off. I continued working the block down to the size of the clay model. I stopped frequently as I got closer in size to the model, measuring with calipers and a ruler.
14. As I got closer to the correct overall width, I drew in the wrist portions of the wings, taking care that both sides were equal in size and rounded the same way.
15. Once I was satisfied with the overall shape and size, I drew in the details for the head, eyes, and beak.
16. I did more wood removal with both sanding drums on the Foredom and various bits with my Ram micro motor tool. I used the calipers frequently, as I wanted to be sure I matched the important measurements: eye placement, length of break, height, etc. I constantly redrew the eyes, nostrils, and beak as I removed wood.
17. When I had the head shaped down and the proportions of the head and beak finalized, I drilled out the eyeholes and went about setting the eyes into the wood. I used clay to hold the eyes in place. Using clay means I never have to worry about the clay distorting the back or color of the eyes. I then set them in place, using the A+B epoxy putty tip to create the eye rings. I will clean up and detail the eye rings later in the texturing process. I used my Ram and the Foredom with sanding drums to continue to shape the head, beak, and chin.
18. I worked the beak, chin, and eyebrow ridge to the correct shape and used the model to check the amount of wood removal. I found I took a bit too much off the top of the head on the eyebrow ridges, so I added back a bit with the A+B epoxy. I also opened the nares (nostrils) and began shaping the gape and cere with my diamond bits.
19. Next, I began sketching in the feathers for the cheeks, the ear coverts, and area under the chin. I also drew in the feathers for the top of the head and roughly sketched the cape feathers on the back of the head.
20. Once I had the general layout of the feathers in place, I began relieving them using a flame-tipped diamond burr and a small ball cylinder burr. The flame tip was used on the top of the head, cheeks, and ear coverts. I used the small ball-shaped bit under the beak and on the throat.
21. I ground out the larger “landscaping” bumps and lumps on the chest of the bird. I then used the cushioned sander to sand out the areas between feather groups.
22. Using the flame and ball burrs, I defined the overall shape of the cape and back feathers.
23. I sanded those feathers smooth, penciled in where I wanted to divide the breast feather groups, and put in some splits. I also roughly drew in the covert feathers on both wrist areas of the wings.
24. I used a ruby cutter on the cape to relieve and undercut some feathers that I wanted to show with some “air” beneath them. I went back over the top of the head with a small ball burr and smoothed the edges of the relieved head feathers.
25. I defined the wing-covert feathers with the ruby cutter. I wanted to show some depth on this normally flat feather area, so I sanded them and kept some height on the edges of each feather.
26. Once I was happy with all the feather placement and relief, I sanded the entire bird by hand using progressively finer-grit sandpaper and smaller-sized cushioned sanding drums. I carefully cleaned up the eye rings with some fine-grit sanding sticks.
27. Next, I laid out the feather shafts on all the large feathers on the bust. I decided that I would do a combination of stoning and burning on this bird, so I began planning what areas would get each treatment. Before I did any of that work, I burnished the entire bird using the Floyd Scholz burnishing ball burr (available at Jaymes Company). This ball can add depth but no texture to the feathers, depending on how hard you press when going over the carved areas.
28. The cape, back, and wing feathers were all burned with little to no stoning done on them.
29. All the rest of the head, cheeks, ear coverts, and throat were textured with a blue stoning stick using the Ram micro motor.
30. The breast feathers were textured using a combination of stoning and then overlaying with the burning tool. Small splits were done with the burning tool, and larger splits were made with the ceramic stick. A note on using ceramic stones: keep an eye on your stoned edges. If the wood starts losing its hard edge, redress the ceramic with the dressing stone to restore it.
31. When I first cut the bust to the rough shape I wanted, I left the trailing edge of the entire bust flat. I knew that when I presented the bust on the finished base, I wanted some feather edges on the back of the carving so the back wouldn’t be flat. (In hindsight, I probably should have done the next few steps before I textured the entire piece, but it ended up working out fine.) Only a little rework/touch-up was needed on the feathers that were “hanging” over the back. I used a black Sharpie pen on the area of the bust that I needed to remove in order to highlight where to remove more wood.
32. I used a combination of cylinder-, ball-, and flame-shaped cutting burrs to remove the area of wood between the ends of the feathers. I didn’t go deeply into the back of the bird; I wanted to remove enough wood to show the relief of those feathers while maintaining a flat back that I would incorporate into the final design.
33. I sanded the back of the bust and the inside of the relieved feathers to get them smooth. At this point, I was pretty happy with the overall look and feel of the piece. For these photos, I used a small piece of clay and set the bust into the position and angle that I wanted to achieve for the final display.
34. With the carving done, it was time to prep the bird for sealing and painting. I had a specific design in mind for the base of this sculpture. I contacted Josh Walters at Windy Cape Studios and showed him my design. We discussed my request, and then he set about creating the shape that I ordered.
In the next article, I’ll share how I painted the bird and how I designed and created the habitat to give the illusion of a “ghostly” goshawk peering out through the tree leaves.